Mohinder Amarnath lauds India’s ODI series win but shares his concerns about middle order woes
Mohinder Amarnath has hailed Team India’s performance in the 50-overs format against South Africa after the side won the six-match rubber 5-1. However, he has also pointed out the middle-order players’ over-dependence Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan and the inability to capitalise on the start.
After losing the Test series against South Africa, the Indian cricket team hardly gave a chance to the hosts to stage a come back in the ODI series which resulted in a one-sided affair. The result became possible thanks to the terrific form of the wrist-spinners and the top batting order as Kohli and Dhawan led the list of the highest run-scorer by managing 528 and 332 runs respectively.
“As far as the one-dayers go, usually there is not much difference between sides in this format of the game. It depends on how you play on the day, but then again I felt India
“He is right there at the top with the best in the business. And that’s a very good sign for India. However, other than Virat and Shikhar Dhawan, we’ve not seen much from the rest in the batting department. The worry is, what if the top order doesn’t come through on a particular day, what would happen? It is here that India
Ahead of the start of the South Africa tour, the team’s main objective was to maintain their winning record in the Test format and to create a historic 10 consecutive series win record but India failed to do so. Apart from Kohli, it was Indian pacers who tried hard in creating the visitors’ chances in the series but the Proteas managed to win the first two games by 72 and 135 runs in Cape Town and Centurion respectively. The visitors showed their fighting instinct in the third and last match of the series and avoided a whitewash by winning the game by 63 runs.
“Although they won the ODIs comfortably, the main purpose of the South Africa tour would have been to win the Tests. So there is still some work to do as far as the five-day format is concerned and the combination still needs some work when they go abroad,” he added.
“There’s no doubt that India
After showing their dominance in the One-day games, the men in blue got a 1-0 lead in the ongoing three-match T20I series. The first game of the series was played on Sunday where India give a target of 204 runs, thanks to Dhawan’s blistering 72-run knock. While chasing the target, the home side managed only 175 runs with the loss of 9 wickets and in this game Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed five wickets, conceding only 24 runs and that impressed Amarnath.
“If they have been confused by the Indian spinners, on Sunday they were outdone by the medium pace of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. It doesn’t matter which format you’re playing, you still have to bowl in the right area, and still have to move the ball and keep the batsman guessing. In that respect, Bhuvneshwar is a very crafty bowler who has a lot of variation, with pace and slower deliveries, which he uses well in the death overs. He really controls the game when it comes to a tight situation. So India looks a much better, superior team, and they should win this T20 series as well,” wrote Amarnath.
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